November's coolest gadgets

While electronics products are getting more and more energy efficient there's certainly a long way to go before some products can be considered a technological advance on the power front.

Just look at PDP (plasma display panel) televisions -- they might be thinner than old CRT (cathode ray tube) models and might provide a better picture but in many cases they are using up more power than the sets they replaced -- hardly a step forward when it comes to lowering the amount of energy we use.

With that in mind take a look at Sanyo Electric's new Eneloop solar charger. Sanyo is doing a lot for energy efficiency -- it's already one of the world's largest makers of rechargeable batteries and solar panels and now they come together in this product. It's truly a way to get green energy and just the thing to power the array of portable gadgets in all our homes that seem to eat through disposable AA or AAA batteries.

Sony Vaio G

Pick up the Sony Vaio G laptop and you'll be in for a surprise. At just 898 grams, the machine is much lighter than you'd expect from looking at the 12.1-inch screen-equipped machine. Sony says it's the lightest laptop of its class in the world and it's probably right. The secret comes in part from a Carbon body. Sony has also employed Carbon in the heatsink for the processor and graphics chips to reduce the size and weight. The machine will work for about six hours on a fully charged standard battery and will survive a drop from a table without damage, said Sony. There's also a light AC adapter that is the same thickness as the computer so it won't cause a bulge in a bag. It will be available in Japan in December and is aimed at business users. Sony hasn't disclosed plans for an overseas launch. It will cost between ¥215,000 and ¥245,000 ($1,830 and $2,085) depending on configuration.

Samsung SGH-X830 Cell Phone

Is it a phone? Is it a music player? A quick look at Samsung Electronics' SGH-X830 might make you think of the latter but it's closer to the former. The phone, which bears a striking resemblance to a certain well-known music player with display screen and scroll wheel, will be available in Europe in late November and in other GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) markets during the following months. It has a 1.3 megapixel camera, 1GB of built-in memory and support for a host of popular audio and video formats. Price will depend on carrier subsidies.

Samsung Q1 ultramobile PC

They don't look any different from the outside to the launch model but the latest two versions of Samsung Electronics' Q1 ultramobile PC pack new processors and new prices. They are the Q1-Pentium, which runs an Intel Pentium M 723 1GHz processor, and the Q1b, which is based on Via Technologies' C7 1GHz processor. The original Q1, which was launched with great fanfare at this year's Cebit show in Germany in March, ran an Intel Celeron M 900MHz processor. The Q1-Pentium has a 60GB hard-disk drive and 1GB of memory, while the Q1b has a 40GB drive and 512MB of memory. The latter configuration is similar to the original model. The Q1-Pentium is priced at around $1,250 and the Q1b at around $900. They're now available in the U.S.

Sanyo Eneloop Solar Charger